Author: Donald W. Miller, Jr., MD

The Soviet composer Dimitri Shostakovich wrote most of his symphonies under Stalin. Unlike Stravinsky and Prokofiev, he stayed in the Soviet Union until his death in 1975. Shostakovich won the Stalin Prize (100,000 roubles and a dacha) six times for his compositions; addressed letters to Stalin: “Dear Joseph Vissarionovick;” and joined the Communist Party (in 1960). Musicologists and music critics are divided into two camps regarding Shostakovich’s political leanings. One group views him as a closet dissident and the other, as a Soviet apologist and committed communist. In addition to his 15 symphonies, Shostakovich wrote 15 string quartets; 2 concertos … Continue reading →

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On March 1, 2018 Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, gave his annual State of the Nation speech in Moscow. The last third of his 2-hour, 13,340-word speech dealt with nuclear treaties and nuclear weapons. On this day in this speech Vladimir Putin unveiled five new Russian nuclear-weapon systems (pausing after describing each one to show a video CGI simulation of it). Like Sputnik in the Cold War Space Race, these highly advanced strategic nuclear weapons checkmate U.S. military supremacy. These weapons systems also render aircraft carriers and submarines obsolete. One is a drone, in this case a nuclear-powered underwater drone. … Continue reading →

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This article is taken from a talk I gave on August 13, 2017 at the 35th Annual Meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in New Orleans. State power affects a lot of the subjects that this group addresses, from climate change and the linear no-threshold model of radiation to saturated fats and DDT. The text includes some of the slides I used for this talk. Last year the literary world celebrated William Shakespeare on the 400th Anniversary of his death. In the U.S., sponsors had a copy of the original 1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays go on tour and be … Continue reading →

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Sally Fallon Morell has written a new book, published last month, titled Nourishing Fats: Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness. In a smoothly flowing 182 pages, she shows why saturated fat and cholesterol are not the villains they are made out to be. Parents of infants and young children will be drawn first to Chapter 8, “Remember the Little Ones: Why Children Need Animal Fats.” Beneath this title in the table of contents she writes: “Children need animal fats for normal growth and the development of their brains. But at the two-year checkup, doctors warn moms not … Continue reading →

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Our youngest son Dan, born in 1987, claims socialism is good. Like many other people in his Millennial Generation born 1982-2004, despite growing up in a home with libertarian parents, he backed Bernie Sanders and thinks socialism works. A case in point, he argues: “Look at Sweden. It works there!” My wife and I have tried to dispel this notion and other collectivist views he holds since he attended and graduated from college, without effect. When I learned that Tom DiLorenzo had written a new book titled The Problem with Socialism, for release on July 18, 2016 I pre-ordered a … Continue reading →

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This article is a talk I gave at the 34th Annual Meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Omaha last week. Its director, Jane Orient, M.D., asked me to address the subjects of statins, nutritional supplements, stem cells, and hyperbaric oxygen for combating heart disease. The text includes some of the slides I used for this talk. Heart Disease My father was born and raised on a farm in Nebraska and attended medical school at the University of Nebraska, Class of 1938. He died from a stroke, at age 97. Heart disease, however, remains the leading cause of death in this … Continue reading →

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Walter Block, Ralph Raico, and I have founded a group called “Libertarians for Trump.” Its website, libertariansfortrump.org, designed and managed by Martin Moulton, seeks to advance Libertarian values and discussion in the 2016 Election and invites people to join the #LFT Movement. I recount the beacons on the path I took to becoming a libertarian in “What Kerouac, Kennedy, Lincoln, and Practicing Medicine Have Taught Me About Liberty” for Why Liberty: Personal Journeys Towards Peace & Freedom, edited by Marc Guttman. [1] In Why Liberty, 54 people from all walks of life tell how they became libertarians. (Two particularly interesting … Continue reading →

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A moderator at the last Fox News Republican debate, questioning Donald Trump on his feelings for Vladimir Putin, showed a video where Trump says, “I think I’d get along with Vladimir Putin.” Putin has described Trump as “an outstanding and talented personality,” calling him “a brilliant and talented person, without a doubt.” In response, Trump has said, “It is always a great honor to be so nicely complimented by a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.” Adding, “And [in my dealings with Putin] I don’t think you’d be having the kind of problems that you’re having … Continue reading →

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This commentary was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 20, Number 3, Pages 83-89, Fall 2015. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Public Law 89-97, the Social Security Amendments of 1965 that created Medicare and Medicaid. I graduated from medical school that year. Over the last 50 years the federal government has become increasingly involved in medicine, functioning both as a third-party payer and patron of biomedical research and clinical trials. [1] And starting 25 years ago, modern medicine has come to adopt a new type of probabilistic medical thinking named “evidence-based medicine.” [2] Healthcare spending … Continue reading →

This article is taken from a talk I gave on HIV/AIDS at the 33rd annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness in Ontario, California last week (some of the slides that I used for this talk are put in here). It is based on a commentary I wrote titled “A Fallacy of Modern Medicine: the HIV/AIDS Hypothesis.” [1] As I will show, this fallacy has done a great injustice to people who happen to test positive for HIV, to gay men in particular. It has caused the deaths of many thousands of these young men, becoming what one might … Continue reading →

This commentary was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 20, Number 2, Pages 54-56, Summer 2015. Modern medicine has developed striking ways to treat coronary heart disease, which feature coronary stents implanted percutaneously and coronary artery bypass grafts performed surgically with the aid of a heart-lung machine. And then there are statins to lower cholesterol. A 70-year-old man sees a physician for a checkup. He has no history of heart disease and no risk factors for it. He does not smoke, has no family history of diabetes or heart disease, and is physically active and not … Continue reading →

My wife recently went to see her doctor for a checkup. A blood test showed that her cholesterol, the calculated low-density lipoprotein one, was elevated. Though feeling well, her doctor ordered a coronary calcium scan, taking into account the fact that she has a family history of heart disease (her father died from a heart attack when she was 12 years old).  Quite unexpectedly her calcium score was quite high. The score one wants to have on a CT (computed tomography) coronary calcium scan is 0, which indicates no evidence of coronary artery disease (CAD). A score of 1-10 gives … Continue reading →

This commentary was published in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons Volume 20, Number 1, Pages 18-19, Spring 2015. Modern medicine has spawned great things like antibiotics, open heart surgery, and corneal transplants. And then there is antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS. A civic-minded, healthy person volunteers to donate blood but, tested for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), is found to be HIV-positive. This would-be donor will be put on a treatment regimen that follows the (285-page) Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents [1] and will be thrust into a medical world peppered with acronyms … Continue reading →

Before there was a vaccine for it, just about every person in America got measles. They would catch this highly communicable childhood disease usually between the age of 5 and 9. From 1900 to 1960, with improved sanitation, clean water, and better nutrition fostered by rapid delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables along with affordable refrigerators, the mortality rate from measles in the U.S. dropped more than 95 percent. When I was a child 70 years ago families would have “measles parties” to expose their kids to another child with measles so they could have the disease and get it … Continue reading →

Before there was a vaccine for it, just about every person in America got measles. They would catch this highly communicable childhood disease usually between the age of 5 and 9. From 1900 to 1960, with improved sanitation, clean water, and better nutrition fostered by rapid delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables along with affordable refrigerators, the mortality rate from measles in the U.S. dropped more than 95 percent. When I was a child 70 years ago families would have “measles parties” to expose their kids to another child with measles so they could have the disease and get it … Continue reading →